Scottish Executive

Benefits

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make representations to Her Majesty’s Government to seek a change in the rules for Crisis Loans so that an applicant need not apply in person in remote areas of Scotland.

Jackie Baillie: Benefits, including the provision of Crisis Loans, are a matter reserved to the UK Government. It is therefore for the DSS to decide how they should best be administered. The Scottish Executive will continue its regular dialogue with UK Ministers on how the Scottish Executive and the UK Government can best work together to tackle such issues.

Cancer

Mrs Margaret Ewing (Moray) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much each health board spent on the treatment of those suffering from mesothelioma in (i) 1997-98, (ii) 1998-99 and (iii) 1999-2000.

Susan Deacon: Information is not available in the format requested. My response to question S1W-11268 provides the background to funding decisions by health boards.

Civil Servants

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what powers it has to discipline civil service staff.

Henry McLeish: Disciplinary arrangements are a matter for the Scottish Executive within the framework set out in the Civil Service Management Code. The code is available at:

  www.cabinet-office.gov.uk/civilservice/managementcode/csmc.pdf.

Compulsory Purchase

Mr Murray Tosh (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive why research into updating the law on compulsory purchase in Scotland due in 1999 is not yet ready and what steps it has taken since 1 July 1999 to strengthen research into planning in Scotland and to reduce any dependency for research and policy development on the Department for the Environment, Transport and the Regions.

Mr Sam Galbraith: The compulsory purchase research has now been completed and will be published shortly.

  The Scottish Office already had its own planning research programme prior to 1 July 1999 to help develop and evaluate policy decisions. Details of the planning research programme are included in the Development Department Research Programme which is published annually in March and is available on the Executive’s website (http://www.scotland.gov.uk/cru/).

  We liaise with colleagues in the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, the Department of the Environment Northern Ireland and the National Assembly for Wales, but ultimately we have responsibility for developing our own research priorities.

European Convention on Human Rights

Mr Gil Paterson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-11531 by Mr Jim Wallace on 7 December 2000, whether it has any plans to run TV or radio campaigns to raise public awareness of the effect of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Mr Jim Wallace: The Executive has no plans to launch such campaigns. However, as I made clear in my answer to question S1W-11531, a range of information about the Human Rights Act has already been made available to the public.

Health

Margaret Smith (Edinburgh West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many operations were cancelled and, of these patients, how many were not re-admitted within one month in each year since 1995, broken down by health board.

Susan Deacon: Information on the number of operations cancelled by NHSScotland is not available centrally.

  Details of cancellations of planned admissions to hospitals are collected centrally and published annually in Scottish Health Statistics, which is available in SPICe. The latest edition of Scottish Health Statistics is Bib. no. 6937.

Health

Margaret Smith (Edinburgh West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many beds were available in each NHS Trust in (i) 1979, (ii) 1990 and (iii) each year from 1992 to date.

Susan Deacon: Information on bed numbers, by NHS Trust, has been collected centrally since 1996-97. Prior to that date, it was collected only by health board area. Details of bed numbers are published annually in Scottish Health Statistics which is available in SPICe. The latest edition is   Bib. no. 6937.

Health

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance it has issued to health boards on the diagnosis and treatment of children and adults with attention deficiency disorder and/or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Susan Deacon: The Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) is currently developing a clinical guideline on Attention Deficit and Hyperkinetic Disorders in Children and Young People, which is due to be published in the spring. The guideline will be disseminated to a range of interests including NHS Trusts and health boards.

Health

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what information is being provided to health professionals and, in particular, GPs on the diagnosis and treatment of attention deficiency disorder and/or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Susan Deacon: The Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) is currently developing a clinical guideline on Attention Deficit and Hyperkinetic Disorders in Children and Young People, which is due to be published in the spring. The guideline will be disseminated to a range of interests including general practitioners via the Primary Care Advisers at health boards.

Health

Karen Whitefield (Airdrie and Shotts) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will publish the report of the Review Group on the Retention of Organs at Post Mortem.

Susan Deacon: The report of the review group was published today at 10.30am. It will be available on the group’s website at http://www.show.scot.nhs.uk/scotorgrev .

  Arrangements have been made for copies of the report to be available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre.

Hospitals

Bill Aitken (Glasgow) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many Campaign for a New Victoria postcards the Minister for Health and Community Care has received to date.

Susan Deacon: As at 31 January, the Executive has received around 550 postcards from members of the public campaigning for a new Victoria Infirmary. The department has asked Greater Glasgow Health Board to consider these, since public consultation on the review of acute services is a matter in the first place for the board.

Housing

Bill Aitken (Glasgow) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many council houses (a) there were in total and (b) were available for letting in each Glasgow parliamentary constituency as at (i) 1 January 1997 and (ii) 1 January 2001.

Jackie Baillie: The Executive does not hold information on council housing stock within parliamentary constituencies. On the basis of returns from the council, the total local authority housing stock in Glasgow at 31 March 1997 was estimated to be 105,035 and at 31 March 2000 it was estimated to be 92,216.

Information Technology

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what studies it has conducted into the risks of having its websites "hacked" and what measures it is taking to ensure that any such attacks are not successful.

Angus MacKay: The Scottish Executive commissioned a study in August 2000, by an external company specialising in web security, to identify what if any vulnerability existed on its website. The Scottish Executive maintains a high level of IT security vigilance and keeps countermeasures under continuous review.

Justice

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many cases before sheriff courts have been abandoned or lost as a result of pressure on the courts; what it intends to do to prevent such occurrences, and whether it has consulted victims of crime in relation to its policy in this area.

Colin Boyd: The records of all Procurator Fiscal Offices have been checked. During the year to December 2000 no cases are recorded as abandoned or lost because of pressure on sheriff courts.

Justice

Mr Kenneth Gibson (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to minimise any disruption to the Glasgow courts caused by recent industrial action by Unison.

Mr Jim Wallace: Local authorities are responsible for the running of their respective district courts. The industrial action of UNISON arises out of a dispute between the relevant local authorities and UNISON on behalf of its members. The Procurator Fiscal sought where possible in law to expedite some summary cases by accelerating them to be dealt with before the industrial action. Some cases may be dealt with after the conclusion of the industrial action.

Lifelong Learning

Dr Sylvia Jackson (Stirling) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made in relation to its Individual Learning Accounts initiative.

Ms Wendy Alexander: ILAs are a way of helping people to invest in their own learning with financial support from the Executive. The initial response has been encouraging. Following on from the pilot schemes the initiative has been fully operational in Scotland from 1 September 2000. By the end of November more than 28,000 accounts had been opened, against the target of 100,000 by 2002, and over 7,000 people had already begun learning supported by their ILA. Both learndirect   scotland and the Local Enterprise Companies will continue marketing initiatives to maintain this early momentum.

Lifelong Learning

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what methodology will be used to evaluate and collate details of the socio-economic backgrounds of people participating in individual learning accounts through learndirect scotland and what types of courses these accounts will be used for.

Ms Wendy Alexander: A range of data is being collected to enable us to assess over time the use made of Individual Learning Accounts (ILAs) and the key characteristics of ILA holders, including age group, gender, occupation, area of residence and type, subject and level of learning undertaken.

  The data will reflect both the universal character of the scheme and its promotion, in particular, to the socially excluded and those in SMEs. Key statistics will be provided to the Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Committee during the review of the operation of the scheme in the autumn.

Lifelong Learning

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many individual learning accounts have been (a) applied for and (b) granted to date and what percentage of accounts have been paid for by credit card.

Ms Wendy Alexander: To the end of December 2000 a total of 34,361 applications from Scotland for an Individual Learning Account (ILA) have been received, of which 34,192 have been granted.

  Details of the method by which ILA holders pay their individual contribution to the cost of their learning are not collected.

Local Government Finance

George Lyon (Argyll and Bute) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what the Grant Aided Expenditure settlement was for Argyll and Bute Council for 1997-98, 1998-99 and 1999-2000.

Peter Peacock: The local government finance settlements are based on Aggregate External Finance (AEF) or Scottish Executive grant. Argyll & Bute Council received AEF of £108.035 million in 1997-98, £107.728 million in 1998-99 and £110.884 million in 1999-2000.

  GAE assessments are calculations of councils’ relative need to spend on services. They are not resources available to councils. Grant Aided Expenditure (GAE) assessments are listed in the document Grant Aided Expenditure which is published for each year. Copies are available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. no. 8455 for 1997-98, 8140 for 1998-99 and 3274 for 1999-2000).

Local Government Finance

George Lyon (Argyll and Bute) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what the Grant Aided Expenditure Figure will be for Argyll and Bute Council for the next three years with level playing field support and Better Neighbourhood support also included.

Peter Peacock: I refer George Lyon to my answer to question S1W-12724 concerning Grant Aided Expenditure (GAE) and Aggregate External Finance (AEF). AEF (including level playing field support and Better Neighbourhoods Services Fund) for Argyll & Bute Council will be £121.354 million, £127.788 million and £132.781 million (2001-02 to 2003-04 respectively). Argyll & Bute will also receive £0.420 million in 2001-02 from the Modernising Government Fund.

Medical Training

Nicola Sturgeon (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many additional (i) undergraduate and diploma nurse student, (ii) undergraduate physiotherapy student, (iii) undergraduate podiatry student, (iv) undergraduate occupational therapy student and (v) undergraduate speech language therapy student places are expected to be created in 2001-02 as a result of the 8% increase in funding for higher education set out by the Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning on 23 November 2000.

Ms Wendy Alexander: The allocation of places to particular courses or institutions is a matter for the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council, taking into account advice on workforce needs identified. The detailed allocation for 2001-02 academic year will be announced by SHEFC in March.

  In respect of nursing, this only applies to undergraduate courses funded by SHEFC. Most pre-registration nursing courses are funded by the Scottish Executive Health Department, with student places planned separately.

Midwifery

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive why the intake of student midwives at Glasgow Caledonian University was not more than 20 for the years 1999-2000 and 2000-01.

Susan Deacon: The Scottish Executive Health Department contracted with Glasgow Caledonian University for a target of 30 studentsto the 1999-2000 and 2000-01 diploma courses in midwifery to be spread across three-year and 18-month pre-registration courses. The target was met in both years. The actual intakes were 23 three-year places and seven 18-month places in 1999-2000 and 20 three-year places and 10 (provisional for February 2001) 18-month places in 2000-01.

Midwifery

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to increase the number of teaching places in midwifery at Glasgow Caledonian University.

Susan Deacon: The Scottish Executive has no plans to increase the number of student midwifery course intakes at Glasgow Caledonian University in 2001-02.

Ministerial Responsibilities

Mr Murray Tosh (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it has taken to ensure that splitting the Transport and Environment brief into two departments does not militate against the achievement of its goal of integrating land use planning and transport policies.

Mr Sam Galbraith: The Executive’s policy on delivering integrated transport and land use planning policies, as set out in National Planning Policy Guideline 17: Transport and Planning, remains in place. I will work closely with Sarah Boyack and other ministerial colleagues in taking forward this agenda.

National Lottery Funding

Andrew Wilson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much (a) each parliamentary constituency and (b) each local authority area received in lottery funding during the 12 months to 31 December 2000.

Mr Sam Galbraith: These are matters for the lottery distributor concerned, and I have asked them to respond to the member directly: a copy of the reply will be placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre.

Planning

Mr Murray Tosh (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Scottish Executive Inquiry Reporters’ Unit (SEIRU) or its Planning Audit Unit monitor the level of successful appeals against either refusal of planning permission or the imposition of planning conditions in each local authority area and what steps SEIRU or its Development Department have taken to assist any local authorities found to be experiencing unusually high levels of sustained appeals.

Mr Sam Galbraith: Neither the Scottish Executive Inquiry Reporters Unit (SEIRU) nor the Planning Audit Unit undertake the monitoring described. As set out in paragraph 65 of National Planning Policy Guideline 1, it is for individual local authorities to review their performance at appeal and take action as appropriate. In recent times, SEIRU has led a number of training seminars for both councillors and officers. These have been intended to enable more effective participation by planning authorities in the appeal process. More general training is also given by providing speakers from SEIRU for conferences and seminars attended by planning staff from both the public and private sectors.

Planning

Mr Murray Tosh (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what audit has taken place, or is proposed, to assess the effectiveness of local authorities in involving the public and relevant community and interest groups in the planning process.

Mr Sam Galbraith: This issue will be considered in a forthcoming consultation exercise on how to secure effective public involvement in the planning system. The consultation will take account of good practice and draw on recent research projects on Advertising Planning Proposals, Access to Planning Information and One-Stop Shops.

Planning

Mr Murray Tosh (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to audit the effectiveness of local authorities in using information and communications technology to receive planning applications and representations and to display relevant material on their websites as suggested in paragraph 75 of National Planning Policy Guidelines No.1 (revised 2000).

Mr Sam Galbraith: I have asked officials to review the scope for further exploitation of information and communications technology (ICT) in the planning system as part of the forthcoming consultation exercise to improve public involvement. The progress made by planning authorities in using ICT in the planning system is considered during audits of individual councils.

Planning

Mr Murray Tosh (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will clarify the respective roles of the Minister for Environment, Sport and Culture, the Scottish Executive Inquiry Reporters’ Unit and officials of its Development Department in reaching decisions on whether notified planning applications and notices of intention to develop by planning authorities should be called in for determination and whether such decisions are taken sufficiently independently of its role in creating development policy and guidance to ensure that applicants are treated fairly by the planning system.

Mr Sam Galbraith: Decisions on planning cases coming before the Scottish Ministers may be taken either by ministers or, under delegated authority, by officials. All decisions are, however, taken in the name of the Scottish Ministers. The power to take such decisions derives from the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 and relevant subordinate legislation. I am satisfied that all such decisions are taken in a manner which ensures that applicants are treated fairly by the planning system.

Planning

Mr Murray Tosh (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will detail all planning applications and notices of intention to develop notified to it in circumstances where a neighbouring local authority has lodged an objection; whether it will detail for each case whether the application or notice was called in for determination, and what the final decision was in each such case.

Mr Sam Galbraith: This information is not held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Police

Bill Aitken (Glasgow) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many police officers there were in each division covering Glasgow parliamentary constituencies on (a) 1 January 1997 and (b) 1 January 2001.

Mr Jim Wallace: This information is not available.

Pre-School Education

Mr Jamie Stone (Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive how many three-year-olds had free early years education places providing five or more sessions of education per week in (i) 1979, (ii) 1990 and (iii) in each year from 1992 to 1999, in (a) Scotland and (b) each education authority.

Nicol Stephen: Grant funded pre-school education places for three-year-old children were introduced in August 1999. The number of three-year-old children attending a pre-school education place for five or more sessions per week in school years 1998-1999 and 1999-2000 in (a) Scotland and (b) each education authority is shown in the following table. Information for preceding years is not available.

  In addition to the children attending for five or more sessions per week, a large number of three-year-old children received funded places of fewer than five sessions, reflecting parental preference or local admissions policies. In the final, summer term of school year 1999-2000, over 40,000 three-year-old children received a grant-funded place. Of these, some 29% accessed a place for less than five sessions per week.

  Number of children attending pre-school centres who are in their ante pre-school year and who attend for at least five half days per week

  




Academic Year
  



1998-99
(Spring Term)
  

1999-2000
(Autumn Term)
  



SCOTLAND
  

15,142
  

19,331
  



Aberdeen City
  

700
  

1,135
  



Aberdeenshire
  

89
  

377
  



Angus
  

118
  

315
  



Argyll & Bute
  

163
  

46
  



Clackmannanshire
  

271
  

303
  



Dumfries & Galloway
  

8
  

17
  



Dundee City
  

660
  

807
  



East Ayrshire
  

503
  

424
  



East Dunbartonshire
  

329
  

436
  



East Lothian
  

373
  

370
  



East Renfrewshire
  

277
  

424
  



Edinburgh, City of
  

2,321
  

2,092
  



Eilean Siar
  

50
  

98
  



Falkirk
  

190
  

522
  



Fife
  

157
  

736
  



Glasgow City
  

3,827
  

4,363
  



Highland
  

71
  

323
  



Inverclyde
  

382
  

449
  



Midlothian
  

365
  

473
  



Moray
  

25
  

429
  



North Ayrshire
  

382
  

389
  



North Lanarkshire
  

1,078
  

816
  



Orkney Isles
  

2
  

4
  



Perth & Kinross
  

459
  

486
  



Renfrewshire
  

415
  

953
  



Scottish Borders
  

30
  

238
  



Shetland
  

80
  

83
  



South Ayrshire
  

140
  

259
  



South Lanarkshire
  

634
  

871
  



Stirling
  

178
  

295
  



West Dunbartonshire
  

481
  

637
  



West Lothian
  

384
  

161
  



  Source: Pre-school education census (February 1999 and September 1999).

Rail Services

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-11898 by Sarah Boyack on 27 December 2000, what specific measures through the Scottish passenger rail franchise it will take to ensure that the rolling stock for rural services and less profitable lines is of a high standard and of the same standard as that used on more profitable and popular lines.

Sarah Boyack: We intend that our directions and guidance for the renewal of the Scottish passenger rail franchise will include references to improving the overall quality and specification of rolling stock in use across the entire Scottish passenger railway network. These references will not, however, specify the type of vehicle to be used on particular routes.

Recycling

Ian Jenkins (Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of waste was recycled in (i) 1997, (ii) 1998 and (iii) 1999 in (a) Scotland and (b) each local authority.

Mr Sam Galbraith: A recycling rate of 3.8% for waste collected by local authorities in the financial year 1998-99 is given on page 2 of Benchmarking Refuse Collection – a review of council’s refuse collection services published by the Accounts Commission in 2000, a copy of which is available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. no. 6043). Information on the overall recycling rate for earlier years is not held centrally.

  Information on individual local authorities’ household recycling rates for the years 1996-97, 1997-98 and 1998-99 is given in table 2 of page 7 of Comparing the Performance of Scottish Councils – The Environment, 1998-99 published by the Accounts Commission for Scotland in 2000, also available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. no. 6295).

Strategic Rail Authority

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-11900 by Sarah Boyack on 27 December 2000, what specific systems of audit and accountability will be applicable to the Strategic Rail Authority.

Sarah Boyack: As a non-departmental public body, established by the Transport Act 2000, the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) will be subject to external audit. Accountability for funding of the SRA by the Scottish Executive for the Scottish passenger rail franchise will be included in the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions’ Accounts Direction and financial framework for the authority. The financial framework takes account of the requirements of the Scottish Executive.

Teachers

Mr Brian Monteith (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many mathematics teaching posts are currently vacant in each education authority and how many of these posts have been vacant for more than one month.

Mr Jack McConnell: I have recently sent a report on the supply of teachers to the Convener of the Education, Culture and Sport Committee detailing the background to the current position on the collection of information relevant to teacher supply and outlining planned improvements to current methods. Copies of this report have been made available to committee members and it has also been placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre. A response to your specific question can be found at paragraphs 28-36 of the report.

Telecommunications

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what studies it has conducted into the potential impact of the local loop unbundling process on rural economies and what steps it is taking to make rural businesses aware of the findings of any such studies.

Ms Wendy Alexander: The Scottish Executive has commissioned Scottish Enterprise and Highlands & Island Enterprise to collaborate on a study to investigate the potential impact of unbundling across Scotland. We will make the results of this study available to businesses.

Telecommunications

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has any plans to ban, on safety grounds, mobile telephone masts on land it owns in the light of the decision by Kent County Council to do likewise.

Mr Sam Galbraith: The Executive has no such plans.